Perfect your craft, make a meaningful difference, Ong Ye Kung tells ITE grads

SINGAPORE — The definition of success changes as one grows older, it is “less about what we got, and more about what we can give others”, said Acting Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung on Friday (July 21).

Speaking at the ITE Graduation Ceremony, he urged graduates to “choose a more difficult, but more real definition of success, as making a meaningful difference in this world, through perfecting your own craft”.

He noted that “too often, too many of us impose a cookie cutter definition success for the young”. “We expect them to achieve a certain score — be it ‘T’ or banded score — go to certain schools, go to university, earn a certain salary and get a certain job title,” said Mr Ong.

To that end, Mr Ong noted that the education system is changing, to “dial back from an over-emphasis on academic success, to also recognising more forms of success”.

One such move is the change in the PSLE scoring system — announced last week by the Education Ministry. Another is the introduction of the Early Admissions Exercises for O-level and ITE graduates, which allows students with aptitude and passion for a course to be considered for polytechnic admission.

Mr Ong stressed that “any single definition (of success) that measures one person against another, as if we are all fishes in the market, is simplistic, unrealistic, hollow and false”.

At Friday afternoon’s ceremony, 675 students — representing the top 5 per cent of their cohort — received their Certificates of Merit. A total of 226 students also received Course Medals for being top students of their course. A total of 13,849 ITE students across its three colleges will be graduating this year.